Committee for SADs 5, 50 to review reorganization plans

ROCKLAND — The Reorganization Planning Committee for Maine School Administrative Districts 5 and 50 is going to have to take another look at its reorganization plan next Tuesday.

The committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. at the SAD 5 boardroom. SAD 50 consists of Thomaston, Cushing and St. George, and SAD 5 is Rockland, South Thomaston and Owls Head.

After rejecting parts of the plan, Education Commissioner Susan Gendron sent it back with a letter offering comments and notes to assist the committee in completing its work.

Committee Co-chairwoman Jamie Doubleday explained in an e-mail to committee members that some language had to be revised in one section of the plan. She said that Co-chairman David Matthews and she had reworked that language and had received an OK from Augusta to use the revised wording.

Story continues below advertisement.

Some exhibits also had been omitted inadvertently from the plan sent to DOE.

In addition, the reorganization plan must provide an estimate of the cost savings to be achieved by the formation of a regional school unit, and how these savings will be achieved in accordance with state law.

The estimate must be written in sufficient detail to provide clear direction for the new regional school unit before plan approval.

That element “is being worked on, and the information that we have is being gathered together for review by the RPC Finance group,” Doubleday wrote. “The RPC will have copies, hopefully before we meet next week.”

David Connerty-Marin, director of communications for the DOE, said if the committee members are looking to hold a referendum vote on Nov. 4, then they will need to move quickly.

“The deadline is not so much us, there’s also the legal deadlines for them to print the ballot,” he said.

“They’ll pretty much need to get anything to us for approval by the middle of September,” he added.